British Council brings globally renowned Contemporary Dance Choreographer and Director Wayne McGregor CBE and his company to Bengaluru

Monday, 4 December 2017

Bengaluru: Furthering its commitment towards democratising creative arts in the country and offering Indians exposure to acclaimed international artists, British Council has collaborated with Studio Wayne McGregor to give Indian audiences a chance to experience dynamic, powerful, visceral contemporary choreography. As part of the collaboration, multi-award winning choreographer Wayne McGregor’s company of 10 world-class dancers, Company Wayne McGregor, will perform the critically acclaimed dance work FAR in Bengaluru on 6 December 2017 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall.

Wayne McGregor’s anatomy-defying choreography and ground-breaking approach across dance, science, film, music, visual art and technology has fuelled a string of unique works. FAR is no exception and is a multi-sensory experience.

Inspired by the controversial Age of Enlightenment, FAR mines an era that first placed ‘a body in question’. Ten incredible dancers confront the distortions, sensuality and feeling of the 18th Century’s searing contemporary sensibility to a haunting score by the critically-acclaimed composer Ben Frost. Staged in a mesmerising environment of shadow and light (Random International, Lucy Carter), FAR binds cutting-edge design with choreography made from a radical cognitive research process.

FAR is co-produced by Sadler’s Wells, London, UK and by Peak Performances @ Montclair State University, Montclair, USA and is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

During the tour, Company Wayne McGregor dancers with the Learning and Engagement team from Studio Wayne McGregor will deliver over 30 educational workshops and masterclasses for participants including beginners, dance enthusiasts and professionals across four cities. These workshops reflect the professional artistic processes that McGregor uses with his own company in the studio, allowing all participants in the workshops to experience this cutting edge, high quality practice.

Studio Wayne McGregor was recently commissioned by British Council for Mix the Body, an interactive digital dance experience in India, directed by Wayne McGregor. The collaboration saw coming together of Studio Wayne McGregor and Attakkalari Dance Company, a registered, public charitable trust formed by Indian artistes from different disciplines to help create contexts for contemporary movement arts.

Mei-kwei Barker, Director South India, British Council, said “The UK-India Year of Culture has travelled across India, celebrating the modern-day relationship between our countries, and inspiring people to build a relationship for the next 70 years. Our world-class cultural organisations have been working together to create new works and share new stories around the UK, India and online. We’re delighted that people in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai will be able to experience the Indian premiere of a new work from one of Britain’s greatest contemporary dancers and dance companies: audiences will be enthralled by the unique dance language of FAR.

Speaking on co-creating ‘Mix The Body’ with Studio Wayne McGregor, Jayachandran Palazhy, Artistic Director, Attakkalari Dance Company, said “Contemporary dance, although gaining ground among Indians, is still a niche dance form in the country. The collaboration with British Council and Studio Wayne McGregor for Mix The Body has given us the opportunity to bring to life a unique idea, and create a platform for many Indians to experience contemporary dance like never before employing digital technology and interactivity. Mix The Body is probably what aspiring contemporary dancers and performers need to be able to simulate - professionally choreographed pieces through the work of one of the world’s best.

Over the last year the British Council has been working with Wayne McGregor, a multi award winning UK choreographer/director and Bengaluru’s Attakkalri to create Mix The Body - a digital dance platform allowing many more people to connect with the Year of Culture and create and share a unique dance work through your mobile.”

A winner of numerous awards including two Olivier Awards, Wayne McGregor is renowned for his 20+ year career of creating highly-regarded cutting edge and enthralling work – an innovator and leader in international contemporary dance. Company Wayne McGregor is supported by Arts Council England and is Resident Company of Sadler’s Wells, London. Wayne McGregor is also Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet, where his productions are acclaimed for their daring reconfiguring of classical language.

Wayne McGregor, choreographer and director said: “The word choreography means drawing with the body - and the Mix the Body digital platform is an extension of that in a different medium. In this project we have worked with dancers from Company Wayne McGregor and with Indian dancers and it’s been fascinating to see how one type of physical signature works with another, and the alchemy that can be made by those different styles working together. I hope that people will enjoy using the digital technology of the Mix the Body app, together with the technology of the body, to gain a new insight into the choreographic process and to be able to creatively experiment and also share it with the world.

We are very excited to be embarking on this multi-city tour of India where Company Wayne McGregor will be performing my work FAR, as well as delivering educational dance workshops in each city we visit in November and December.”

Wayne McGregor CBE is a multi-award-winning British choreographer and director. He is Artistic Director and Founder of Studio Wayne McGregor, the creative engine of his life-long choreographic enquiry into thinking through and with the body. Studio Wayne McGregor encompasses his extensive creative collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science; Company Wayne McGregor, his own touring company of dancers; and highly specialized learning and research programmes. Studio Wayne McGregor opened its own newly created studio space on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London in March 2017. McGregor is also Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, He is regularly commissioned by and has works in the repertories of the most important ballet companies around the world, including Paris Opera Ballet, New York City Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, and he is in high demand for choreographing for films (Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Sing, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and music videos (Radiohead’s Lotus Flower). McGregor was awarded a CBE in 2011 for Services to Dance.

ABOUT UK/INDIA2017 YEAR OF CULTURE

UK/India2017 is a year-long celebration of the long-standing relationship between India and the UK, which will see a vast programme of cultural exchange and activity take place in cities across both countries. Working with a huge number of partners and institutions, the British Council is developing a programme of cultural activity which will connect and inspire people in both countries; and strengthen and celebrate the UK and India’s cultural ties. For more information on UK/India 2017 please visit www.britishcouncil.in

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We work with over 100 countries in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Last year we reached over 65 million people directly and 731 million people overall including online, broadcasts and publications. We make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust. Founded in 1934 we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. We receive 15 per cent core funding grant from the UK government.